King: Prosecute Journalists for Publishing Leaked Information

Rep. Peter King (R-NY) told CNN’s Anderson Cooper that journalists who knowingly publish leaked classified information should be held criminally accountable for their actions:Actually, if they-if they knew that this was classified information-I think action should be taken, especially on something of this magnitude. I know that the whole issue of leaks has been gone into over the last month. I think something on this magnitude, there is an obligation, both moral but also legal, I believe, against a reporter disclosing something which would so severely compromise national security. As a practical matter, I-I guess it happened in the past several years, a number of reporters who have been prosecuted under us, so the answer is yes to your question.

Glen Greenwald, the Guardian reporter who broke the NSA snooping story and would be implicated in any prosecution that King is alluding to, took to Twitter to respond to King’s statement:

Is is true, as I was just told, that Peter King on CNN called for criminal prosecution of journalists reporting the NSA stories?

Whether you agree with King or not, he is at least being more intellectually consistent than grandstanding politicians who throw around the term “traitor” when demonizing whistle-blower Edward Snowden.